William Woty
Encyclopedia
William Woty was an English law clerk and hack writer, known for light verse.
. He came to London as a clerk or writer to a solicitor. He began speaking in debating societies and contributing short poems to newspapers. He subsisted for some years as a Grub Street
writer.
About 1767 he became companion and legal adviser to Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers
, who supported Woty by a charge on his estate in Leicestershire
. He died at Loughborough
on 15 March 1791, aged about sixty.
Woty's other works included:
Life
Among his poems is an elegy on his schoolmaster, who lived near Alton, HampshireAlton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
. He came to London as a clerk or writer to a solicitor. He began speaking in debating societies and contributing short poems to newspapers. He subsisted for some years as a Grub Street
Grub Street
Until the early 19th century, Grub Street was a street close to London's impoverished Moorfields district that ran from Fore Street east of St Giles-without-Cripplegate north to Chiswell Street...
writer.
About 1767 he became companion and legal adviser to Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers
Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers
Vice Admiral Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers, FRS was a British Royal Navy officer, peer, freemason and amateur astronomer.-Biography:...
, who supported Woty by a charge on his estate in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. He died at Loughborough
Loughborough
Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...
on 15 March 1791, aged about sixty.
Works
Someone published in 1758, without his consent, in a borrowed name, a small piece of his composition called The Spouting-club. He himself issued in 1760, under the pseudonym of ‘J. Copywell of Lincoln's Inn,’ a volume entitled The Shrubs of Parnassus consisting of the "poetical essays" he had contributed to newspapers.Woty's other works included:
- ‘Campanologia: a Poem in praise of Ringing’ [anon.], 1761.
- ‘Muses' Advice addressed to the Poets of the Age,’ 1761.
- ‘The Blossoms of Helicon,’ 1763. It contained, with a hymn to good nature by Dr. James Solas Dodd, a description by Woty of White Conduit House. These lines, which made their first appearance in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1760, were quoted at length in George Walter ThornburyGeorge Walter ThornburyGeorge Walter Thornbury was an English author. He was the son of a London solicitor, reared by his aunt and educated by her husband, Reverend Barton Bouchier. A journalist by profession, he also wrote verse, novels, art criticism and popular historical and topographical sketches...
's Old and New London;; and in Warwick William WrothWarwick William WrothWarwick William Wroth , F.S.A., was the Senior Assistant Keeper of Coins and Medals in the British Museum.Mr. Wroth was the eldest son of the late Rev. Warwick Reed Wroth, vicar of St. Philip's Clerkenwell...
and Arthur Edgar Wroth's The London Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century (1896). - ‘The Poetical Calendar,’ a supplement to Robert DodsleyRobert DodsleyRobert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....
's collection, 1763; twelve volumes, one for each month in that year. They were edited by Woty and Francis FawkesFrancis FawkesFrancis Fawkes was an English poet and translator. Fawkes translated Anacreon, Sappho, and other classics, modernised parts of the poems of Gavin Douglas, and was the author of the well-known song, The Brown Jug, and of two poems, Bramham Park and Partridge Shooting...
. - ‘Church Langton:’ a poem, n.d. [1768?], in praise of the charitable projects of the Rev. William Hanbury.
- ‘The Female Advocate:’ a poem, 1770, 2nd edit. 1771.
- ‘Poetical Works,’ 1770, 2 vols.; dedicated to Earl Ferrers.
- ‘The Stage,’ n.d. [1770?].
- ‘Particular Providence:’ a poetical essay, 1774.
- ‘The Estate Orators: a Town Eclogue’ [anon.], 1774; a satire on the London auctioneers.
- ‘Poems on several Occasions,’ 1780; this contained reprints of several of his works.
- ‘Fugitive and Original Poems,’ 1786, contains ‘The Country Gentleman: a Drama.’
- ‘Poetical Amusements,’ 1789, dedicated to Robert Shirley, 6th Earl Ferrers. It contained a Latin version of Thomas GrayThomas GrayThomas Gray was a poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University.-Early life and education:...
's Elegy; ‘Sunday Schools: a Poetical Dialogue between a Nobleman and his Chaplain;’ and ‘The Ambitious Widow: a Comic Entertainment.’